Should You Let your Employees Use Social Media?

Another successful #TChat this past Wednesday has become my muse for today’s blog post. HootSuite was kind enough to make a guest appearance this chat and helped us learn the many business benefits of social media. Of course, social media has many great benefits when it comes to marketing to customers but what about the benefits of allowing your employees to use social media for business even if they aren’t in the sales or marketing department?

Social media in the workplace doesn’t necessarily need to be a negative thing. It can actually help your business more than you realize:

Employees become a megaphone: if you have more employees using social media to talk about your company, the products/services, events, etc., it can reach a larger audience. Not to mention, the audience that it is reaching will be people that know the employees and trust them which can make a better impact.

Your recruiters can research candidates: resumes don’t always give a clear picture of why candidates would be top talent for your company. Social media gives candidates a voice and personality and can show recruiters the candidates’ personal brand. This can help recruiters really get a good picture of what a candidate would bring to table if hired.

It can engage employees and increase internal mobility: sometimes an employee’s job role doesn’t allow them to show managers what they’re truly capable of. Social media can open up options when employees are attempting to find ways to take initiative. It can open up opportunity and show managers what ELSE the employee can do if given the chance.

Surprisingly, it can increase communication: social media makes it easier to communicate and network with all sorts of professionals. This networking can help build relationships that can turn into partnerships or business opportunities. Additionally, these people can provide new and useful resources to help a company learn and progress.

Understandably, employers are worried that employees will abuse social media use. However, it can make a positive difference if you train employees on proper uses and even give them ideas on how to use it to benefit their jobs and the business as a whole. You can even engage employees to use it properly by creating contests, recognizing a good job, or even offering incentives. Open your mind to this and you may allow your company to progress faster than ever before.